Siege
Week of August 15-21, 2025
Welcome to TRACKING THE CRISIS, a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the Trump Administration as well as the many forms of legal and movement response from across a broad range of social, political, and economic actors. TDC is providing this service for collective informational purposes, as a tool for understanding the times during a period of disorientingly rapid flux and change in the U.S. political economy. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Red state governors send their National Guard troops to aid Trump’s occupation of Washington, D.C. and crackdown on immigrants, homeless and Black residents. Entering the second week of Trump’s ‘federalization’ of Washington D.C. law enforcement, tensions remain high in the capital between the Trump Administration, local officials, and residents. This week, governors from six red states (West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee) sent hundreds of their own National Guard members to Washington D.C., bringing the total number of troops on the streets up to about 2,000. Former National Guard vice chief Major General Randy E. Manner, noting that the Guard is not trained in law enforcement nor considers it their mission, called the deployments an ‘intimidation tactic’ and expressed concern that Guard troops were being used as ‘political props’. D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser said that the additional deployments “didn’t make sense” but had no control over the situation. The Brennan Center for Justice has released a legal and security analysis of Trump’s use of the military, police, and federal agents after one week of occupation. Washington Post reporters gave an account of the first Friday night of the occupation and its impact on local nightlife, while CNN interviewed local business owners and reports on how the takeover has impacted the city’s struggling economy. An analysis by the Intercept shows the federal occupation costing at least $1 million per day for troops to mostly mill around and intimidate people for petty offenses, as FBI insiders report agents are increasingly demoralized at being pulled off their existing assignments to follow Trump’s orders. Immigration enforcement has emerged as a particular flashpoint for arrests as residents report federal agents ‘asking for papers’ and ICE checkpoints pop up on D.C. streets. ICE is reportedly targeting delivery workers on mopeds, as on Sunday, August 17 when masked agents beat and tased a Venezuelan delivery driver in a video that went viral. Homeless residents of D.C. are also being criminalized and report feeling ever more at risk as encampments are destroyed and residents arrested in a test run of Trump’s executive order calling to ‘remove’ the homeless. The White House claims to have made over 200 non-immigration arrests, releasing daily summaries but keeping details hidden. U.S. Marshals are offering $500 rewards for tips leading to arrests, while the Trump Administration announced it would seek federal prosecution and DC Attorney Jeanine Pirro directed prosecutors to seek the maximum possible charges for those arrested. The reports claim that approximately half of the arrests come from D.C.’s ‘high-crime’ neighborhoods; although residents report that troops have been sparse and reluctant to enter these neighborhoods, sticking mostly to tourist areas and predominantly white districts. Residents in Congress Heights, one of D.C.’s reported highest-crime neighborhoods, expressed distrust in Trump’s initiative, with many suspicious that it is a prelude to gentrification. The Congressional Black Caucus condemned the occupation as a “racist and despicable power grab,” and Black residents told local outlet Capital B that the actions “fit into a long history of denying a heavily Black city the right to govern itself.”
Democrat leadership mostly restrained in response to Washington D.C. takeover as Vance, Miller send warning to other Democrat-led cities. As legal experts warn of an ‘unprecedented power grab’ that will expand Trump’s executive overreach, Democratic leaders have been mostly restrained in their reaction, treading ’cautiously’ in their response to the crackdown. Afraid of seeming ‘soft on crime,’ many in the party are staying silent or deflecting to easier ground in saying that the occupation is merely a ‘desperate distraction’ from the Epstein scandal. While Rep. Jamie Raskin introduced a bill to end Trump’s declaration of emergency last Friday, it has only two cosponsors so far, and Trump has said that he expects Congress to allow him to surpass the 30-day statutory limit for his D.C. takeover; on Tuesday Republicans introduced a bill to allow Trump to keep troops in D.C. indefinitely. Policing expert Alex Vitale notes that the Democrats’ feeble response stems from their past embrace of police crackdowns and ‘law and order’ politics; others see the occupation as the logical conclusion of bipartisan endorsements of a militarized surveillance state since 9/11, just as Trump’s crackdown on the homeless has a history of bipartisan support. As federal officers are likened to ‘the new Proud Boys’ and National Guard troops prepare to carry weapons on the streets, military veterans fear a deadly escalation; the ACLU released a statement on Monday reminding federal agents they are bound by the Constitution to preserve civil liberties. New York Magazine columnist Ed Kilgore notes that Trump may be exploiting the Democrats’ political dilemma to push for something far worse: a militarized takeover of law enforcement in Democrat-led cities. As Trump ranted at the media for calling him a ‘dictator’ and peddled conspiracy theories about D.C. protestors being ‘paid by Democrats’, JD Vance hinted at something far darker, suggesting that the D.C. takeover could ‘serve as a test case’ for other cities across the country during a visit to D.C.’s Union Station with Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller on Wednesday, August 20. As protestors heckled the officials with chants of ‘Free D.C.,” Miller dismissed the protestors as ‘stupid white hippies’ that would ‘inspire’ Trump to bring thousands more federal resources to the city. On Thursday, Trump reinforced their statements, saying that the operation would ‘go on to other places’ during an appearance at the U.S. Park Police headquarters to thank the National Guard and announce a personal ‘ride-along’ with officers on Thursday night. Democratic mayors from Baltimore to Seattle are preparing for the worst, saying they would fight any incursions while other urban mayors worry that their city might be next.
State Department revokes 6,000 student visas, begins review of all visa holders as DHS screens new applicants for ‘anti-American’ activity and ‘moral character’. On Monday, August 18, the State Department announced that it had revoked more than 6,000 student visas for various reasons, mainly for overstaying and infractions of the law such as DUIs or assault. Around 300 visas were revoked due to “support for terrorism” – which presumably includes support for Palestinian rights, as evidenced by ICE’s arrests of several pro-Palestine students last spring, or what Marco Rubio deemed ‘hostile attitudes’ in new embassy vetting guidelines mainly targeting Chinese students. On Tuesday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it would be screening all new immigration applicants for ‘anti-American ideologies or activities’, expanding the social media vetting rules introduced by the Trump Administration in June. USCIS also introduced a new requirement this week requiring immigrants seeking naturalization to demonstrate ‘good moral character,’ directing immigration officers to evaluate whether an applicant has “affirmatively… met their burden of establishing whether they are worthy of assuming the rights and responsibilities of U.S. Citizenship.” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council denounced the new rules as a new McCarthyism, saying on X that “the term (anti-Americanism) has no prior precedent in immigration law and its definition is entirely up to Trump.” On Thursday, the Trump Administration announced it would be reviewing all 55 million active U.S. visa holders (including those not currently in the United States) for any ‘violations’ that would merit visa revocation or deportation. In a letter to Associated Press, the State Department declared that going forward, all visa holders, including tourists, would be subject to ‘continuous vetting’ that would determine whether they would retain permission to enter or stay in the United States. David Bier, immigration policy director at the conservative Cato Institute, suspects that the reviews “will be done in a discriminatory manner” with an eye to “revoke visas based not on conduct but speech.” Wired reports that phone searches at the border have hit record highs, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection reporting having reviewed nearly 15,000 devices of international travelers (including U.S. citizens) from April to June. Last week, the State Department stopped issuing medical care visas for children injured in Gaza after right-wing pundit and “proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer reportedly complained directly to Marco Rubio about the “threat of Islamic invaders.” Aid group Heal Palestine was “distressed” at the decision and contradicted Loomer, saying the children always return to the Middle East after their treatment. Rubio also announced on Thursday that the State Department was immediately halting all employment visas for commercial truck drivers, saying on X that the increasing number of foreign truck drivers was “endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.” According to the American Trucking Association, the industry is facing a nationwide shortage of about 60,000 drivers. New data from the Pew Research Center shows that the U.S. immigrant population has declined for the first time in more than 50 years; just 2 years after hitting record highs in 2023.
Alligator Alcatraz ordered to close amid ‘dangerous health risks’ as Senate probe, UW study uncovers widespread human rights violations at ICE facilities. A Senate investigation led by Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff uncovered more than 500 credible reports of abuse in ICE custody, including alarming allegations of abuse against pregnant women and children. The University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights published a report this week detailing how state and private institutions are complicit in ‘gross’ human rights violations, including people being held at Washington’s Northwest Detention Center. The report also made ties between several Washington companies that are profiting from ICE’s violation of human rights, including companies in which public workers’ retirement funds are invested. An audio recording of a call from Alligator Alcatraz leaked to the news outlet Prism this week revealed that detainees are facing dangerous health risks and are on the edge of revolt; in the recording, screams can be heard in the background as the caller described people collapsing and being left on the floor, as well as ‘chaos’ erupting in the cells as guards ‘don’t know what to do’ and “have us here imprisoned and abusing us in every way.” Earlier in the week, reports of a rapidly spreading respiratory disease prompted support for a class-action lawsuit against the facility. Late on Thursday, August 21, federal judge Kathleen Williams ordered that Alligator Alcatraz must be shut down within 60 days, after which all construction materials for the camp must be removed. The order formalizes and builds upon a temporary injunction issued two weeks ago halting further construction in response to a lawsuit brought by several environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe. Another lawsuit examining detainees’ legal rights at Alligator Alcatraz was partially dismissed by a federal judge, who also transferred the case to a different jurisdiction. A recent report reveals that ICE has quietly stopped reporting on how many transgender people were being held in custody, violating a 2021 mandate. In Southern California, an 8-foot black metal fence has gone up overnight around the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles as community members and Attorney General Rob Bonta allege that ICE raids are still occurring even after a federal judge barred ICE operations in the area due to allegations of racial profiling. As extreme heat warnings hit Southern California this week, immigrants face the difficult choice of cooling off in public areas at the risk of being caught up in ICE raids, or staying in homes with inadequate air conditioning with the risk of dangerous health effects.
DHS recruits Defense Department workers for ICE as condemnation of Trump’s ‘Gestapo’ grows. The Pentagon on Wednesday reportedly sent a letter to DOD employees recruiting them for a new ‘Volunteer Force’ to support ICE/CBP operations. Legal expert and military veteran Allison Gill blasted Trump for “actively exploiting a captive audience to join his gestapo” and warned of the risks of “putting Veterans – many with severe PTSD… on the street without background checks.” Even after having been awarded an unprecedented $170 billion budget by Congress in the ‘big beautiful’ budget bill to ramp up operations, ICE has had trouble fulfilling Trump Administration goals of hiring 10,000 new officers. Last week, DHS eliminated age restrictions to widen its net, and this week launched a glitzy recruitment campaign in occupied D.C., offering $50,000 signing bonuses, student loan relief and dropping nearly $1 million on custom truck upgrades and Ford Mustang GTs for recruitment ads. ICE recruitment is also targeting police officers by sending recruiting emails directly to sheriffs’ offices and local precincts, upsetting local law enforcement leaders who accused ICE of poaching their employees. DHS also pulled hundreds of FEMA staff to help with ICE hiring as hurricane season intensifies, and In The Atlantic, David Frum interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Caitlin Dickerson on the history of how ICE has become Trump’s secret army, as Internet observers decode neo-Nazi messaging and antisemitic dog whistles in DHS social media ads. As the DOJ threatens legal action against some cities and states over immigration policy, ICE chief Todd Lyons threatened to “flood” the streets of Boston with ICE agents after mayor Michelle Wu refused to drop the city’s sanctuary laws; while Maryland lawmakers pleaded with ICE to respect ‘due process’. Three dozen members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus sent a letter this week to Lyons, Kristi Noem, and border czar Tom Homan this week expressing ‘grave concern’ over reports of women being abused by ICE agents and masked men impersonating ICE officers. The Intercept reports on ICE hunting down immigrants through surveillance of wire transfers, putting a chilling effect on remittances, while in New York ICE is abducting schoolchildren as young as 7 years old; and Mother Jones documents ICE’s relentless targeting of migrants at immigration courts, “shattering faith in America’s goodness.”
Voting rights under siege: Amid redistricting battle, Trump plans executive order ending mail-in ballots, admitting intent to keep Democrats from office. After months of speculation that Trump would attempt to hold on to power by rigging the 2026 midterm elections, what is being described as the GOP’s ‘anti-voter agenda’ came into clearer focus this week. As Texas Democrats returned to the state for three days of contentious struggle over the GOP’s gerrymandered redistricting map (which was passed by the state legislature on Wednesday) and the California legislature took up Gavin Newsom’s retaliatory redistricting plan, Trump took to Truth Social on Monday to announce he will ‘lead a movement’ to get rid of mail-in ballots and voting machines. During his summit with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and several European leaders at the White House on Monday, August 18, Trump elaborated on his intentions, calling mail-in ballots “corrupt” and revealing plans for a forthcoming executive order banning mail-in ballots and voting machines “that’s being written right now by the best lawyers in the country.” At a joint press conference with Zelenskyy, Trump then said the quiet part out loud by commenting, “If you [don’t] have mail-in voting, you’re not gonna have many Democrats get elected. That’s bigger than anything having to do with redistricting, believe me.” While Trump holds no formal legal power to change the election system – as the Constitution expressly places responsibility for election policy in the hands of the states and Congress – and any unilateral attempt from him to do so would most likely be ruled unconstitutional, legal observers doubt it would ‘contain’ him from asserting power, or at least lean in on pressuring election officials and ‘make an enormous mess’ in the process. An analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice outlines the many ways in which Trump has quietly undermined checks and balances in the election system, including gutting the agency responsible for election security, seeking to access state voter information under the pretext of ‘finding fraud’, and threatening state and local officials with criminal investigations by the Justice Department. Trump’s strategy is also bolstered by his constant claims of voter fraud, which have been challenged as untrue but are nonetheless seen as being useful in sowing confusion and doubt in the minds of the public, especially for those who already hold racial resentment or bias. New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie talks with Reveal’s Al Letson this week about the decades-long conservative effort to undermine the Voting Rights Act, which passed its 60th anniversary two weeks ago as a shell of its original self after successive waves of Republican challenges have defanged or stripped state voting rights protections, especially from disabled and elderly voters who would be most impacted by a ban on mail-in ballots. Trump also promoted radically unconventional interpretations of the Constitution to justify his claims to power, supported by a Supreme Court that, under John Roberts, has consistently bowed to Trump’s controversial approach to the rule of law; including the notion that states are merely ‘agents’ of the federal government in regards to elections, and, importantly, a ‘maximalist’ interpretation of Article II of the Constitution that, according to commentator David French, undergirds the ‘unitary executive’ theory of power behind Project 2025. This week, the Trump Administration passed the grim milestone of having made over one thousand ‘authoritarian actions’ over just seven months in office; Chris Lehmann of The Nation observes that Democrats, still stuck in a ‘conceptual rut’ of outdated political assumptions, remain unlikely to stop the juggernaut of Trump’s power grabs despite insiders’ enthusiasm over Gavin Newsom’s ‘fight fire with fire’ approach to the redistricting battle, which most Americans believe will erode democracy even further.
More U.S. families, especially in rural areas, facing economic hardship as multiple economic and policy impacts hit home. U.S. families are beginning to buckle under the economic pressure as inflation rises, wages stagnate and the cost of living surges. A recent Yahoo Finance poll showed 1 in 3 Americans feel their financial situation has deteriorated in the past year, and over half of U.S. parents have been driven into ‘unmanageable’ debt as they struggle to provide for their families. As millions of children in the United States go back to school in the next couple of weeks under a pall of uncertainty and confusion amid Trump’s educational mandates and funding battles, the lagging impacts of the tariff war have hit families shopping for school supplies with an especially acute sticker shock as prices on apparel and accessories like shoes, bags, and electronics have risen by as much as 10% since tariffs were announced, according to a Harvard Business School study. Nearly 1 in 3 back-to-school shoppers are changing the way they shop for supplies, including buying more used items as pawn shops experience a boom in traffic for items like laptops and sneakers. Even higher-income households earning over $150,000 per year are struggling to pay loans and credit card debts as the market for white-collar jobs dries up and housing costs rise out of reach; Bloomberg reports that U.S. homebuyers are backing out of purchase contracts at record rates as uncertainty, regret, and caution take a toll on middle-income households. Common middle-class experiences and spending patterns like eating at restaurants and taking vacations are now largely out of reach for the average consumer. The Wall Street Journal reports that the economy is now mostly being propped up by the spending habits of just the top 10% of earners, who now account for a record half of consumer spending and nearly one-third of GDP. Reuters notes that inequality in the United States is more extreme than ever, with the top 10% owning 90% of stock market assets and over 50% held by the top 1%; and the Institute for Policy Studies reports that CEO pay has risen at over twice the rate of the average worker, widening the gap by at least 12% over the last 5 years. Visual Capitalist has released a map indicating which states are struggling the most financially; Texas and Florida top the list, followed by several other red states.
Rural America especially has been thrown into a crisis as farmers and other rural households are squeezed by a combination of climate change impacts, high tariffs on farm equipment and inputs and ‘retaliatory’ tariffs on export products, and the Trump Administration’s abrupt pullback of infrastructure funding awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act as well as the cancelling of programs for renewable energy, which had become a lifeline for struggling farmers. Red states are also starting to feel the fallout from Trump and the Republicans’ ‘big beautiful’ budget bill; with over 300 rural hospitals at risk of closure due to Medicaid cuts and premiums set to rise by an average of 12% and as much as 36% over the next year due to the ending of ACA subsidies. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who initially cheered the bill, called the rate hikes “unacceptable” but did not rule out the possibility of making more health cuts to accommodate the increased scarcity. As federal forces move into Washington D.C. to remove homeless camps, a study by the National Alliance to End Homelessness predicts that the elimination of HUD programs in the budget bill could swell the unhoused population by up to 36%. NPR reports that electricity prices have risen by more than double the average rate of inflation, driven by an investment boom in AI that is not only taking energy resources away from households but is also driving reallocation in the markets, almost single-handedly propping up economic growth in an otherwise moribund economy. However, by Tuesday, August 19, even the AI boom was looking like a bubble about to burst after a bombshell report from MIT warned that the vast majority of AI investments were yielding zero returns, prompting a massive sell-off. Despite the extreme economic uncertainty at all levels, the White House is maintaining a “no panic” attitude towards the prospect of economic crisis as Trump turns the screws on the Fed to cut interest rates, hoping to loosen credit and spur more spending. New housing data released on Monday, however, indicated that an interest-rate cut would be unlikely to relieve an “upside-down” housing market still plagued by high prices as consumers of all brackets pull back from taking on more debt; according to Realtor.com, only about 28% of homes in the United States are affordable for the average household.
After shooting at CDC, hundreds of HHS employees implore RFK Jr. to stop spreading vaccine misinformation; Trump Administration rolls back rules protecting mental health coverage. After last week’s deadly shooting at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, where a gunman reportedly “obsessed with vaccine conspiracy theories” fired 500 rounds at the CDC headquarters and killed a police officer, over 750 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday, August 20 publicly blaming Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. for the tragedy. The letter claimed that RFK Jr.’s “politicized rhetoric” and actions undermining vaccine research and implementation “turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization – and now, violence.” CDC staffers situated the shooting within an escalating pattern of political, verbal and physical aggression directed at public health workers, implored the Secretary to stop spreading vaccine misinformation “at the risk of American lives,” and demanded more protections for public health workers. Critics claim that RFK Jr.’recent $500 million cut to mRNA vaccine research has “gutted our best defense against future pandemics” and sowed mistrust in public institutions. ProPublica released a landmark report this week on the cutbacks at federal health agencies, which have shed over 20,500 workers and scientists since January and left departments struggling to perform basic functions, with many workers spending out of their own pockets for supplies. Ahead of the HHS release of its “Make America Healthy Again” report, the Atlantic reviews MAHA’s performance so far with health experts, who acknowledge some modest progress with food companies eliminating harmful food dyes, but judge it as mostly filled with contradictions as well as funding decisions that have proven destructive to public health and medical research in the United States. Some point out how RFK Jr.’s approach to public health, vaccines and autism carries echoes of far-right Darwinian politics and Nazi-style obsessions with curing ‘degeneracy,’ combined with a laissez-faire ethos that lets corporations producing unhealthy chemicals off the hook while placing responsibility for public health on the shoulders of individuals and their lifestyle choices. ProPublica also reports this week on how the Trump Administration is rolling back Biden-era rules ensuring parity for mental health coverage among private insurers, meaning that millions of Americans may lose access or face steeper barriers to mental health care, with disproportionate impacts on Black communities and youth of color. The Trump Administration also escalated its attacks on gender-affirming healthcare, banning coverage for transgender government employees on federal health plans while also mandating coverage for conversion therapy. This week, the Justice Department issued subpoenas to 20 medical providers demanding the confidential information of patients, including names, Social Security numbers, and “every writing and record” concerning transgender minors who have received gender-affirming care. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the DOJ to provide more information on why it is undertaking this “unprecedented” investigation into providers of gender-affirming care, including in states where that type of care is not only legal but considered ‘necessary’ for transgender youth. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who brought the legal challenge to the Trump Administration, warned of ‘traumatic effects’ if they were forced to turn over the information to the Justice Department.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Washington D.C. residents step up protests, heckling JD Vance and Stephen Miller appearances. Communities in Washington D.C. continued protesting into the second week of the Trump Administration’s military takeover of law enforcement in the nation’s capital, heckling ICE agents and National Guard troops where they appeared. Over the weekend, hundreds of protestors rallied at Dupont Circle and later marched to the White House, chanting “Trump must go!” and demanding an end to the ‘crime emergency’ Trump declared by executive order. One protestor said it was important for the administration to see that residents weren’t intimidated by the military presence, saying “what’s scarier is if we allow this,” as organizers planned to make the weekend protest a regular occurrence until troops were out of the city. At Union Station, growing protests prompted National Guard troops to leave their posts, as former MPD officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten in the Capitol by right-wing rioters during the January 6, 2021 insurrection, told federal agents in D.C. to “quit your job.” Rolling Stone presents a photo gallery of the protests. Protestors have made creative use of sub sandwiches – such as the one thrown at ICE agents last week by former Justice Department worker and viral sensation Sean “Sandwich Guy” Dunn, who now faces felony charges for ‘assault with a deli weapon’ – that have been adopted by protestors as a icon of resistance. Feminist website The 19th profiles the women who founded the Free DC Project, one of the primary organizations behind the street protests, several months before Trump’s takeover; situating the organization’s history in the intergenerational movement for D.C. statehood. On Wednesday, protestors showed up at Union Station to heckle JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, and Stephen Miller as they handed out hamburgers to National Guard troops; chants of “Free DC” and “Go f**k a couch!” nearly drowned out the trio of Trump officials as they attempted to speak to reporters. Miller was also dragged on social media by reporters, academics, and residents after ranting that the protestors were “stupid white hippies” that should “go take a nap.” Protests appear to be growing as the occupation wears on, and have spread to other states as crowds in red states such as Ohio protest their governors for sending their National Guard troops to the capital. A Washington Post poll found that an ‘overwhelming’ supermajority (79%) of D.C. residents oppose the occupation, with about 7 in 10 residents saying D.C. police should not cooperate with ICE and 6 out of 10 opposed to sweeps of homeless encampments. 61% of residents ‘feel less safe’ after the Trump occupation began, and just 17% backed the occupation. NPR spoke to D.C. teenagers demonized as “young punks” by D.C. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who all had experienced crime in D.C. and overwhelmingly felt less safe due to the Trump occupation. PBS Newshour and Buzzfeed have also published opinions from local residents. On Thursday night, protestors defying law enforcement plans to impose a youth curfew converged on 14th and U streets for a raucous protest and demonstration of community solidarity, dancing to D.C.’s homegrown ‘Go-Go’ music while artists projected images of a sub sandwich on nearby buildings.
Hundreds of thousands in Israel stage general strike demanding a hostage deal and end to the war in Gaza as a sea change in national and international public opinion puts pressure on Netanyahu. An estimated 500,000 people rallied in Tel Aviv on Sunday, August 17 to demand an end to the war on Gaza and the peaceful return of Israeli hostages in one of the largest rallies since the start of the October 7 conflict. Led by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, organizers denounced the Netanyahu government and demanded a “comprehensive and achievable agreement and an end to the war,” vowing to “shut down the country”. The protests also mark a sea change in Israeli public opinion towards the war, as accusations of genocide within mainstream society are “no longer taboo,” academics and professionals worry about their prospects abroad, and exhausted IDF officers are increasingly reluctant to carry out Netanyahu’s plans to “conquer Gaza.” On Monday, August 18, Hamas signaled that it would accept an agreement, drafted by Egypt and Qatar, offering a 60-day truce and release of half of the remaining Israeli hostages; terms which Qatar said was “almost identical” to earlier proposals to which Israel had agreed. Israeli hostages’ families implored Netanyahu to agree to the deal and refrain from deliberately thwarting ceasefire negotiations as he has done in the past. International pressure for a ceasefire also mounted this week as Netanyahu pushed forward with an Israeli assault on Gaza City; Danish prime minister Mette Fredricksen called for Netanyahu to step down, saying Denmark will weigh sanctions against Israel, while 17 Democratic Senators urged Marco Rubio to pressure Israel over the killing of journalists. Ahead of Italy’s World Cup qualifiers against Israel, the Italian Football Coaches’ Association called for Israel to be suspended from international competition in the FIFA and UEFA leagues. While Norway’s football association fell shy of boycotting its upcoming World Cup qualifier against Israel in October, it pledged to donate all proceeds from the game to support relief efforts in Gaza. Reuters journalists took internal tensions public this week with a letter denouncing the company’s editors and management for pro-Israel bias at the news outlet, while dozens of Microsoft employees occupied the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington to protest the use of Microsoft’s Azure software in Israeli military operations and demand the company divest from Israel. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 6 out of 10 Americans supported recognition of a Palestinian state, and the national president of the College Democrats announced they would co-sponsor a resolution at the DNC’s annual meeting later this month calling for an arms embargo and suspension of military aid to Israel as well as recognition of a Palestinian state. The resolution has stirred up tensions with party leadership, as a history of the DNC’s efforts to kill such resolutions “expose the yawning rift” between the party’s base and leadership, who remain opposed to an embargo. A Gallup poll from July showed that only 8 percent of Democratic voters continue to support Israel’s military actions. Late on Thursday, August 22, Netanyahu, while still ‘set’ on approving plans to invade Gaza City, said that Israel would resume talks with Hamas toward a ceasefire and release of the hostages.
California governor Gavin Newsom seizes the spotlight with Trump parody on social media as CA legislature advances retaliatory redistricting gambit. Attempting to resonate with Democrats who are eager for leaders to go on the offensive against Trump, California governor Gavin Newsom took to social media this week in a viral troll-fest parodying Trump’s distinctive social media style – using all-caps rants, derogatory nicknames, self-congratulatory AI memes and cringey mock religious paintings to “hold up a mirror to MAGA” and seize the spotlight as a ‘leader’ of the resistance. He also trolled HUD Secretary Scott Turner in Spanish on Thursday after Turner deleted Spanish-language content from the HUD website, declaring the agency “English only.” Newsom’s social media strategy appeared to be working with faithful Democrats who were relieved to see someone in their party take a fighting stance; followers of his X account increased by 450% this week, boosting his 2028 presidential candidacy prospects as his polling numbers surged, propelling him to the second-place spot behind Kamala Harris. Newsom also used the social media spotlight to demand more serious answers from the Trump Administration, particularly regarding an incident last week in Los Angeles where Newsom’s press conference on redistricting was surrounded by masked and armed ICE officers in an apparent show of force. Newsom filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Sunday demanding “all documents and records” related to the deployment of federal agents at the August 14 incident, which Newsom denounced on X as “yet another dangerous step towards authoritarianism.” The publicity stunt also coincides with Newsom’s gambit to “fight fire with fire” by answering Texas’ gerrymandering bid with one of his own, proposing a California redistricting map that would eliminate Republican-held districts and add five Democratic House seats, answering Texas’ effort to add five seats for the GOP. California Republicans’ lawsuit attempting to block Newsom’s redistricting plan on the grounds of state constitutional rules was thrown out by the California Supreme Court on Thursday, August 20, clearing the way for Newsom and the state legislature to advance the proposal to California voters through the ballot initiative process in a special election scheduled for November. The move has animated Democratic leaders who had historically been opposed to gerrymandering, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, who said that what Texas Republicans are doing requires an equally aggressive response from Democrats. Newsom faces a tougher battle with rank and file Democrats, who preferred keeping California’s independent redistricting commission by a two-to-one margin at the beginning of the week, although support for the measure in the polls kicked up by Friday after Newsom’s social media gambit and the California legislature’s approval of the new map proposal. Rep. Gwen Moore of the Congressional Black Caucus expressed concerns this week about the outcome of a potential “race to the bottom” engendered by a gerrymandering ‘arms race’; fairness advocate Common Cause issued a statement saying that while they will “not pre-emptively oppose” the California redistricting effort, they remain opposed to gerrymandering in principle, “no matter who is doing it,” and denounced the ‘race to the bottom’ initiated by the Texas GOP. Some longtime observers of California politics remain skeptical of Newsom’s bid to be ‘general of the resistance’ (and presumably, 2028 candidate) given his stances on gender-affirming care and homeless encampments that share more affinity with Trump than with his liberal base. A Democratic strategist told CNN that Newsom’s turn towards the politics of gerrymandering and edgelord trolling “speaks to the fundamental problem he has with the Democratic electorate: He says and does what he thinks is right for him in the moment as opposed to what is right for the country.”
Upcoming Protests and Events.
Saturday, August 23: Nationwide protests are being held this weekend against Palantir, the Peter Thiel-backed company who is building surveillance infrastructure for the Trump regime. More information on local actions can be found at PurgePalantir.com.
Saturday, August 23: 50501 Chicago will be holding a demonstration (separate from the August 2nd action) calling for ‘No Camps, No War, No 1984’. More information can be found on the protest flyer or on 50501 Chicago’s Bluesky account.
Tuesday, August 26: The American Association of University Professors is holding a virtual meeting for AAUP members to discuss recent university settlements with the Trump administration and their implications for academic freedom and governance, as well as what members can do to fight back on their own campuses. Invitations will be sent to AAUP members via email.
Monday, September 1: The AFL-CIO, 50501 Movement and May Day Strong Coalition are calling for a nationwide ‘Workers Over Billionaires’ mobilization on Labor Day to stop the ‘Billionaire Takeover’ of government and society. More information on local actions can be found at MayDayStrong.org or https://www.mobilize.us/mayday/map/; in Chicago, General Strike Illinois will be holding a Labor Day Fest with teach-ins, sign making, food and more on August 30th to prepare for the demonstrations.
Friday, September 5: AltCDC will be holding a ‘Protect the EPA’ rally in Cincinnati from 3:30-5:30pm in front of EPA offices to protest the agency’s gutting of collective bargaining agreements and support EPA staff. More information can be found on Bluesky.
Lawsuit Updates.
Twenty Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration this week over the Administration’s decision to withhold more than $1 billion in federal crime victim funding to states that persist in upholding sanctuary policies, alleging that the Justice Department’s actions unconstitutionally override the decisions of Congress, which approves the funding per the 1984 Victims of Crime Act.
A federal judge ruled on Thursday, August 21, that Trump’s personal attorney Alina Habba was unlawfully serving as Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, rendering all actions taken by her office since her disputed appointment “null and void.” The decision marks a legal and political setback for the Trump Administration, who overrode the actions of New Jersey’s federal court to appoint a new prosecutor when Habba’s temporary tenure expired in July. The decision “casts immediate doubt on potentially hundreds of prosecutions, investigations, and legal decisions authorized by Habba and her team during the past several weeks.”
The New York Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump Administration this week to end the practice of ICE arrests at immigration courthouses nationwide, after a federal judge ruled that the ICE arrest of 19-year-old Oliver Mata Velasquez outside a court hearing on his asylum process was unlawful.
